08 Group Vacation Day 6 - Yoppers, Pasties and outa gas John

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This set of blogs is another Group Vacation. Our 2008 trip was from KC up and around Lake Superior into Canada and then a slight detour to Milwaukee for a few days for the 25th and 105th celebrations for HOG and Harley Davidson. The blogs are broken into sections, each being a day in the trip. The first blog of this trip is here 08 Group Vacation Day 1 - to Iowa

Wednesday -- 27 AUG 2008

The basic plan is that tonight we will be in Milwaukee WI. We are heading back up around the top of Lake MI and then down the west side of the lake. I have plotted several dealerships that are enroute, but we have a lot of miles to put on and everyone wants to be in early today.

The first thing in the morning we ate at the motel and then met up with Mels brother and the group he was traveling with. We all met at the Mackinac Lighthouse and of course we took pictures. After that we all headed to the HD dealer. After some trouble finding it, we found it in a strip mall, it was just a t-shirt shop. Which is fine because that is all we wanted anyway. With $3 in tucked some place for easy access it was good-byes and our group headed out for the bridge.

Okay so I am learning all kinds of stuff this trip. If you have ever traveled to LA and you come to know that people are just in their own country down there. It is a huge cultural difference when you are sitting at the table, its not like when I travel to NC or east. I call that the land of sweet tea, but there are not any big basic differences, like when in southern LA. The upper part of MI is about the same, kind of a sleeper, in that they are a not a big tourist area, advertising their difference, but in their own country as much as southern LA. Now I only spent a day driving through this area, so I might have messed some of this up but here it goes. They refer to themselves as Yoppers. As in Upper Peninsula. U. P er’s… yoppers. We first heard reference to this area when we are eating lunch in Duluth, MN, the waiter at I-HOP was a yopper. He tried to explain some to us, but we were kind of lost in the conversation and it just didn’t click what he was trying to say. There is a distinctive accent with people from this area. But now we are here and its beginning to click. I start to see signs for Pasties. Now I have heard a lot about pasties from the LD Rider list (Long Distance motorcycle Riders email list, its run by the Iron Butt Association). Anyway every year they have long debates about where the best pasties are. They even have a RTE (Ride To Eat) just for Pasties every year. People in this group will travel hundreds of miles to meet up for a hour or 2 to share a meal then they all head back home. Anyway a pastie is hot pocket type of thing, except they are really good. I think it is a German thing. After passing sign after sign, advertising them, then the frequency of the signs started to diminish so I decided to pull over and tell the group we had to do it. We were making really bad time, but I decided we just had to do it. So I pull into a dive that has them advertised and as everyone is turning off the bikes and looking at me, I explain that this is something that we have to try. I have heard a lot about them, it’s a regional staple and we should all experience this, even if we aren’t really hungry right now. Its around 10:30am so I get the lunch beef and potato w/gravy pastie while others go for the breakfast pasties. I regret I did not get a picture of the pastie or the really cool shirt that the store was selling. Funny but 2 days later Mel was to say that she regretted not getting that t-shirt too. It was an UP thing… off of the “priceless” commercials, 2 lines were pastie $5, bridge $3 then trip to the UP priceless.

Another entertaining thing that we pull over to enjoy is the birthplace or hometown of Paul Bunyon. We pause for pics and a stretch.

This whole trip I have pulled the whole group over every time we see a biker along side the road. Some had waved us on, one was taking pictures of windmills, but a couple times we were of use. I do this not only because it is the right thing to do, but because Harleys have such a bad rap for not pulling over to offer help. I figure I make up for some of that bad rap if I pull 5 Harleys over to help. No one in our group has ever suggested that I should skip pulling over. I ride with a good group of people.

We met John on this day. John works for NASA, but had a problem getting through MI without running out of gas. Nice guy, I think we really identified with this guy. He was in a group but when he ran out of gas no one in his group noticed, or they just didn’t stop. So he was sitting there and gladly took us up on the offer of some gas. Mel took the hose off of her camel back hydration system and it was used as a hose to siphon gas from each of our tanks to Johns tank, we took about a liter from each bike. About the time Willy and John are pouring the last of the gas into Johns tank, one if his buddies shows up with a gallon of gas. Now it is noteworthy how good and efficient Willy was at removing gas from others tanks. He was quick, didn’t spill a drop and didn’t swallow any. Now he was an experienced hand at this. Nuff said.

The dealers were fun, most had something going on to celibrate the 105th and the riders heading to it. We were behind the 8-ball at most of the stops as t-shirts selection was not great at most of the dealers. We were the tail end of the crowd heading south. There was a TV news camera crew at one of the dealers, they filmed us pulling and pulling out of the parking lot. While inside they were doing interviews with the staff and recorded Marcia buying her T-Shirt.

The guys have a thing about knives, nice quality knives. So when we saw a custom knife shop it was a must stop. Jerry bought one and they offered free engraving on the blade so he had that done too. The store was really neat. They had some really nice custom made knives and some carvings and stuffed animals. My favorite was the Horny Beaver.

We made it into Milwaukee and I was staying with Jerry and Marcia. Our group was not staying in the same hotel, we were about 20 -25 miles apart.

Checking in, the reservation was screwed up by the hotel and they had us checking in the next day, but they had rooms so we were in. This room ended up being a real trip.

Here are links to all the blogs for this trip:

1. 08 Group Vacation Day 1 - to Iowa
2. 08 Group Vacation Day 2 - John Wayne, Albert the Bull and Freedom Rock
3. 08 Group Vacation Day 3 - Buddy Holly, SPAM and the Joint
4. 08 Group Vacation Day 4 - Aerostitch and Canada
5. 08 Group Vacation Day 5 - Canada and Mackinac Bridge
6. 08 Group Vacation Day 6 - Yoppers, Pasties and outa gas John
7. 08 Group Vacation Day 7 - HOG 25th are you kidding me??
8. 08 Group Vacation Day 8 - Vinnie and Cody from American Chopper
9. 08 Group Vacation Day 9 - Last day of the 105th Anniversary Party
10. 08 Group Vacation Day 10 - Heading Home
11. 08 Group Vacation Day 11 - Snake Alley, Worldest Largest Pecan

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Photos

Outa Gas John and Willy
These guys have the skill fast and efficient. That gas was removed quick, they knew exactly what they were doing.

The lighthouse
A mandatory picture for my mother, who told me to make sure I visited a lighthouse. This one is in Mackinaw City.

Horny Beaver
From the Knife Store

Sheboygan HD
Had bikes flying around the dealership on the rails in the ceiling.

Their T-Shirt Wall
What a great display for t-shirts. Showed the backs and the fronts, you didn't have to screw with a bunch of folded shirts or those stuffed on racks in some random order only the clerk understands. The T-shirts are hanging on doors, open the doors and there is the stock of t-shirts, in cute little cubes.